1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a latching mechanism for helmet components and a helmet.
2. Related Art
The present invention relates to: a latching mechanism for a component, such as a visor, of a helmet for motorcycle rider; and a helmet.
In running on a motorcycle, especially in off-road races in which means to travel on the rough ground, a motorcycle rider receives large vibrations through the motorcycle or takes large actions for maintaining a balance on the motorcycle. This causes a large amount of physical exertion in the rider. Thus, the elements for a rider selecting a helmet include lightweight, easy breathing, large view field, and airy coolness.
Then, in many cases, the motorcycle helmet is mounted a component such as a shield, goggles, and so on. Generally a visor (i.e. helmet peak) is attached on the helmet such as to protrude from a forehead portion of a helmet to a lower front side. This visor serves as a sunshade or the like for avoiding a situation that late afternoon sunlight or the like enters the eyes. Besides, this visor has the function of protecting the rider's face from a rain or a mud.
Further, the off-road races require the high-speed running in a muddy environment during rain and in a sandy dust. Thus, muddy water, sandy dust, gravels, and the like kicked up by the preceding runners continue violently hitting the face of a following rider. In this situation, the rider need perform acceleration and deceleration, handle operation, and the like with observing irregular ups and downs, curves, surrounding situations, road surfaces, and the like in the forward direction of the course. Thus, a satisfactory field of view need be ensured in the forward and upper regions and hence remarkably difficult running is caused.
Thus, the visor is required not to block the rider's field of view excessively, yet, the sunlight or the muddy water and the like kicked up from the road surface is prevented from directly entering the rider's eyes, and further to be attached and detached easily.
In the prior art, a metal hook has been employed as a method of attaching a visor to a helmet. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,239,842 (Patent Document 1), in general, a male fitting is embedded in the helmet. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,411 (Patent Document 2) discloses a configuration that a nut is embedded in a helmet and then a visor is placed thereon and then fastened with a bolt.
Another fastening method is to employ a permanent magnet as disclosed in the International Publication No. WO 2012/047936 (Patent Document 3). Further, a method in which a fixture is not embedded in a helmet is described in China Utility Model Publication No. 202168482 (Patent Document 4). In this method, in a base plate provided with a keyhole-shaped hole having the shape of two mutually connected circles of which one is large and another is small, a cylindrical pin is inserted into the large circle part and then the pin is moved to the small circle part with causing deformation in the connection part between the two circles. The size of the cylinder cross-section of the pin is almost the same as the small circle and hence the pin is held there. Since the cylindrical pin is installed on the inside of the visor, the visor can be attached and detached when the visor is merely moved forward and backward on the helmet. In general, this attachment method is employed in a hammock provided in the inside of an industrial helmet (a helmet used in construction sites or in factory work).
Further, as described in GB Patent No. 998695 (Patent Document 5), a small circle of a hammock in the inside of an industrial helmet is hooked to a cylindrical pin inserted into the helmet.